Humans of New York (City)

You may have heard of Humans of New York, the project by Brandon Stanton involving the pictures and interviews collected on the streets of New York City. If you’ve ever visited NYC, you know what it’s like to be in the center of a city that never sleeps. Part of the excitement of the city is the anonymity, seemingly endless possibilities, chance encounters, and people watching it affords.

During the 1900s, NYC was an epicenter of change, packed with vibrant new communities of immigrants from Europe and Latin American countries and with Black Southerners who had migrated north. Artists responded to the everyday lives and experiences of city dwellers, incorporating advertising and mass media techniques in their depictions of the lower classes, immigrants, working women, and social elites alike.

Much like Humans of New York, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Ashcan School Prints and the American City, 1900–1940 and A New York Minute: Street Photography, 1920–1950 exhibitions show the explosion and duality of visual culture in the NYC of the past.

We asked four artists for their insights on these two exhibitions. Let’s start with John Brown VI and Lauren Skunta.

Ashcan School Prints and the American City, 1900–1940

This exhibition catalogues intimate moments of daily life in America’s cities during the early 20th century through prints. This era in the United States coincided with major demographic changes in urban areas, including a mass migration of Black Americans from the rural South and the peak arrival of European immigrants. The influx of people resulted in a great cultural shift that impacted how visual design was observed and practiced regionally.

As a designer, I’m fascinated by this particular period, as it marks an important moment in design history, and some of the era’s design principles replicate the modernity observed in the Ashcan School Prints exhibition. The artists in the exhibition chose to explore and illustrate various scenes from everyday life, as those moments captured the most “modern” America. While the public often experienced modernity through expanding nightlife and entertainment options and through technological advancements in their workplaces, designers found it in new groundbreaking techniques in their field. In turn, this drive notably gave birth to the famous international Bauhaus, Plakatstil, Constructivism, de Stijl, and Suprematism movements and, in the later 1940s, the Swiss (or International) and New York schools of design, all with their own set of principles.

As urbanization surged, artists and designers carefully responded to the quickening pace of life. Artists pursued daily scenes through printmaking and photography, allowing for mass reproduction and distribution. At the same time, designers sensed a need to keep up commercially and developed techniques to utilize new press technologies, incorporating innovative typographic ideas with contemporary images. Designers of this period also implemented novel techniques regarding scale, simplicity, and geometry as a response to the ever-expanding world. This connection links the Ashcan School Prints exhibition to a golden period of design history.

John Brown VI is an associate publications designer at the CMA. He is currently earning his master of fine arts in visual communication design at Kent State University. Outside of work and design, John enjoys many hobbies, including soccer, tennis, local food in Cleveland, and spending time with loved ones. Find him on Instagram @hexdesigngrp.

When viewing Evening by Benton Spruance, I immediately put it in the context of today’s pandemic ethos. The public, shoulder to shoulder in the stairwell and crowded together in line waiting on the platform, triggered my COVID-19 mindset of needing physical distance from others. The artwork evokes the sense of hustle and bustle that most of us have experienced in our work or social lives, and although this piece would have always struck me as active and busy, it has an added layer when viewed through today’s lens.

The Escheresque setting adds to the overcrowded feeling by layering compartments of people on top of each other. I start wondering how many different lives and storylines are intertwined in this setting. Some are heading home from work, some heading out for a third shift, some meeting friends and family, and some seeing where the evening takes them. What starts out as a jarring virus-centered mentality quickly evolves into an escapist setting of lives previously lived. It makes me remember the days when I rode the subway frequently, simultaneously minding my own business while sneaking glances at all the characters dressed for whatever occasion they were on their way to; a reminder that, in 1937 and in the present, there are endless individual lives being lived among the public chaos.

Lauren Skunta, owner of Elbowgrease Design, is a figure painter interested in the intersection of texture, form, and line. She also specializes in site-specific art installations that include sculptural work with a wide variety of mediums. Her work can be seen both locally and nationally. Find her on Instagram @elbowgreasedesign.

Next, let’s see what Amber Ford and Scott Shaw have to say about A New York Minute.

A New York Minute: Street Photography, 1920–1950

As a black woman photographer, I am continuing the work of making images of people and for people that look like me — that is my focus, that is my goal. We must document our own history, because what would I be without all those who have come before me?This is why David, New York (1952) by Roy DeCarava stood out to me.

His stance is relaxed but his expression feels somber and is intensified by the sun, which is high and bright, creating a little sweat above the brow and a slight shadow around his eyes. The pupils are dark but still visible. This young boy is leaning against the telephone pole and has only one button fastened on his summer collared shirt. I imagine it is a very hot day in New York and this is an in-between moment captured during play.

We are looking at him, but he is also looking back at us — 69 years apart. This is the power of a strong direct gaze — something I love and often capture in my work. There is a vulnerability needed to be photographed, and a confidence that grows in the collaborative engagement between photographer and subject to create an image. He may not know it, but as I look at this photo, it feels like innocence, looks like youth, and screams “I am here, this is me.”

Amber N. Ford is a photographer/artist based in Cleveland. Ford received her BFA in photography from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2016. Primarily working in photography, she occasionally explores other mediums, such as printmaking. Her work has been shown in galleries such as Transformer Station, SPACES, the Morgan Conservatory, the Cleveland Print Room, Zygote Press, and Waterloo Arts. Find her on Instagram @ambernford.

This show is wonderful. I love that it captures in-the-moment, everyday life scenes that people take for granted. As time goes on, these photos stand out as rich documents of how people lived, worked, and interacted in the past. A lot has changed and a lot hasn’t.

When I look at Group in Front of Fence, Pitt Street, Lower East Side, New York, I’m reminded that moments like this one may not have seemed important when the photo was taken, but they reflect the life and spirit of humans during a certain time and place. I relate to this artwork because, in my photography, I am inspired to capture interesting moments or juxtapositions between environments and people that can make a statement. I feel sometimes the composition is subtle and a lot of people may not have noticed or observed it. And then I wonder, In today’s Instagram world, will it “wow” or is it something that is more quiet? Will this kind of photo live on longer than a “curated” shot composed to get an immediate reaction from people on social media? Maybe a photo like this will end up being a more accurate document of today’s time and place.

Scott Shaw is a Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist. He worked at the Cleveland Plain Dealer and for newspapers across the country for more than 30 years. He owns Scott Shaw Photography and does portraits, weddings and events, editorial, and commercial photography. Find him on Instagram @scottshawphoto.

What connections do you notice between the bustling city of the 1900s and life in the city today?

Visit Ashcan School Prints and the American City in gallery 101 and in Collection Online through December 26. Also visit A New York Minute: Street Photography in gallery 230 and in Collection Online through November 7.